People matter because ideas matter.
Strategy, concepts, technological developments – they all ultimately come from people. In the profession of arms, both the unforgiving judge of the battlefield and the harsh rebuke or uplifting huzzahs of the marketplace of ideas are filters of ideas and the people who promote them.
Some names come and go, others stay. They stay through fads, buzzwords, and the endless parade of personalities claiming exalted status through position; here in a flash, forgotten when gone.
For navalists, not just in the USA, word came this AM of the passing of one of our giants of the last half century. Captain Wayne Hughes, U.S. Navy (Ret) – author of the touchstone Fleet Tactics and Naval Operations, passed away peacefully the evening of December 3rd, aged 90.
For military history minded, a week earlier, another giant passed. Sir Michael Howard, the founder of the Department of War Studies at Kings College London, died on November 30th, one day after his 97th birthday.
Both of these men lived a long and impactful life. They both, in their own way, demonstrated paths for younger men and women to follow who have a passion for understanding the profession or arms, its history, and how to use both to ensure a better future for our world.
Hughes and Howard, respectfully, were 16 and 23 when WWII ended. Young men walking in to a brave new world. They were 62 and 69 when the world changed again with the fall of the Berlin Wall. What didn’t change was the continuing impact they had in the post WWII period.
With all the praise both men are receiving from those they inspired, trained, led, or simply sold books to, the question should be – who are those who will take their place? Who are those who were 16 and 23 in 2001 at the dawn of our newest phase of national security and historical significance?
Tough shoes to fill? Sure, but somewhere out there is this generation’s Hughes and Howard. How do we find them?
Read, listen, study, critique, evaluate … and heck – write yourself. It might be you.
As a side note, over on Midrats a few years ago, Captain Hughes was our guest. You can give it a listen here.
